


Shoot Me

by Masked_Mayhem



Category: Fast and the Furious Series, The Fast and the Furious (2001)
Genre: Drama & Romance, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 23:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17948792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masked_Mayhem/pseuds/Masked_Mayhem
Summary: The sound of the rotation of a revolver’s cylinder made him jerk his head up. Dom was holding the small pistol in his lap. When he noticed Brian’s blue eyes on it, he emptied out all the bullets from the cylinder. It was a seven shot revolver--an older version. He picked up one of the discarded bullets, and slipped it into one of the slots in the cylinder of the revolver. Then, he spun the cylinder, and even Brian’s quick eyes couldn’t follow the single bullet’s path. When the cylinder stopped spinning, Dom placed the revolver down on the bedspread in between himself and Brian, with the handle of it facing Brian, and the barrel of it pointed straight at himself. Seven shots, one bullet. One of those seven shots had a bullet in it, but neither of them knew which shot would spit it out.“Shoot me.”Brian jerked away from the gun so quickly he almost fell off the bed. Placing his arms behind him to steady himself, he stared at Dom,wondering ifpleading that he had heard the man wrong, but knowing internally that he hadn’t.





	Shoot Me

**Author's Note:**

> If there's any Indians out there, this story is a result of me watching the movie Dhoom 2 one too many times and absolutely falling in love with that scene between Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan where she's forced to shoot him in order to prove her loyalty to him. I just think it's absolutely freaking fantastic and perfectly emotional, and the scene just always reminded me of these two and their dynamic, so I just thought I'd write something out and see how it goes. Hope y'all enjoy! 
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the Fast and the Furious franchise or characters nor will I ever. I do not own the Dhoom movies or their characters, either.

... 

Brian let out a long sigh as he stepped out of the shower, rolling his shoulders and cringing as they both popped at once. He pulled on his clothes as he usually would, stepping out of the tiny bathroom as soon as he did so. He scrubbed a hand across his face, then moved it to the back of his neck and rubbed at the tight muscles that he could feel coiled there. He hadn’t slept well in months. The last time he had had a peaceful night’s rest had been back in the guest room at Dom’s place, lulled to sleep by the monotonous chatter of the gang as they moved about the house around him, lulling him into a deep sleep.

He wished he could go back to that moment. He had felt at home for the first time in years. Ever since everything had gone to shit in LA, he felt like he’d been missing a part of himself. A part that had left along with a man in a neon orange Supra and a set of keys. A man that meant so much more to him that he could ever know, evey want to know.

Letting out another sigh, he scrubbed his hand across his face again. He needed sleep. And a drink. A lot of drinks. He made his way to his kitchen, aiming to snag a Corona from the mini fridge before crashing in his shitty bed.

Upon opening the door of the fridge, he found it empty.

_Huh._

That was strange. He could have sworn that he had at least one bottle left. Still slightly baffled, but too tired to spend the time to think on it, he abandoned the idea of a drink and headed straight for his bedroom instead. Hopefully, he would feel better when he woke up. He didn’t bet on it, however, seeing as he had gotten up day after day for months feeling just as crappy as he had the previous day. Sometimes even more. Never any less. He just wanted to feel normal again. He wanted to forget. He wanted to feel whole again. He wanted to wake up without his heart feeling tight. Without feeling the guilt that weighed his shoulders down. Without feeling the loneliness that plagued him no matter how many people he associated himself with and how many new friends he made to replace the old ones.

He wanted to just collapse on his bed and give in to the peace that sleep would offer. With that thought in mind, he pushed open the door to his bedroom, walking through it to his bed.

The man sitting on the side of it stopped him straight in his tracks, the missing Corona resting on the floor by his feet.

Calm brown eyes met his, and the thought of sleep flew from his mind as the fire in them burned into him. He could barely breathe. The corner of the man’s mouth turned up in an unforgiving smirk.

“Cat got your tongue, O'Connor?” the deep, gravelly rumble of _his_ voice made Brian tense.

Brian opened his mouth, shut it, then opened it again.

“Dom….”

“Sit,” his command was flat, and left no room for argument.

Still, Brian hesitated, opening his mouth again, and shifting on his bare feet.

“ _Sit._ ”

Brian snapped his mouth closed and plodded up to the bed. He sat on the opposite side of it with his feet over the side, back to Dom, and as far away from the man as he could manage while still remaining seated. He was poised to run if necessary.

“Turn towards me,” Dom rumbled. “Feet off the ground. Face me.”

Brian swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing, and did as Dom ~~requested~~ commanded. To say that he wasn’t afraid would be a blatant lie. Yes, they had been friends, but that had been before he had betrayed and torn apart his family, sending them to different parts of the world as they ran.  

Brian crossed his legs in front of him, facing Dom. He wouldn’t look at the bald man in the eye: He was too afraid of what he would find there. He kept his eyes glued to the bedspread underneath them, staring at it as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

The sound of the rotation of a revolver’s cylinder made him jerk his head up. Dom was holding the small pistol in his lap. When he noticed Brian’s blue eyes on it, he emptied out all the bullets from the cylinder. It was a seven shot revolver--an older version. He picked up one of the discarded bullets, and slipped it into one of the slots in the cylinder of the revolver. Then, he spun the cylinder, and even Brian’s quick eyes couldn’t follow the single bullet’s path. When the cylinder stopped spinning, Dom placed the revolver down on the bedspread in between himself and Brian, with the handle of it facing Brian, and the barrel of it pointed straight at himself. Seven shots, one bullet. One of those seven shots had a bullet in it, but neither of them knew which shot would spit it out.

“Shoot me.”

Brian jerked away from the gun so quickly he almost fell off the bed. Placing his arms behind him to steady himself, he stared at Dom, ~~wondering if~~ pleading that he had heard the man wrong, but knowing internally that he hadn’t. Dom stared back at him with emotionless eyes. He hadn’t moved. He watched Brian coolly, calculating his every move, and every flicker of his eyes from the gun back to his face.

Brian hated it.

Sure, the man had never been very emotional to start with, but the calmness in those brown eyes now unnerved him. He had never seen Dom this focused on anything. He had always had some form of emotion on his face at all times. Happy and fond when he was talking to the team. Cool and concentrated when buried in the engine of a car. Calculating and intense when looking at Brian. Confused and hurt when they knelt around Vince’s bloody, battered body, and he called for backup. Furious and enraged when he came out of the garage, shotgun in hand. Tormented and grief-ridden as he bent over Jesse’s dead body. And finally, open and astonished as Brian gave him his keys.

Brian had seen many, many emotions on the man’s face. And now, seeing him with none seemed wrong. Ominous. Scary.

Brian tried to maintain the cool persona that had saved him so many times in the past.

“You have a family, a sister who loves you, a home. You really think that I would believe that you’re asking me to throw it all away for you? That you would leave your family like this?”

Dom snarled suddenly.

“I _had_ a family. Now all I have is a sister that doesn’t even want to talk to me because I’ve fucked up everything. My _family,_ ” he spat the word like a curse, “is scattered. And it’s all your fault.”

Brian forced himself to feel nothing, to show nothing, hiding what he was thinking, wiping his thoughts and feelings off of his face and leaving it blank.

Seeing this, Dom’s lips twitched up into a mirthless smirk.

“Still hiding, huh?”

Brian said nothing, showed nothing. Even though he wanted to scream and beg Dom to forgive him, beg him to stop whatever he was trying to pull with the revolver and the seven shots, he said nothing. He said nothing because saying something would prove that he cared about Dom. It would make Brian vulnerable, _weak._ It would give Dom power over him.

Brian would do anything for Dom, but Dom didn’t know that. Dom _couldn’t_ know that. Everyone Brian had ever been vulnerable to had only ever used him and hurt him. Brian wanted to believe that Dom wouldn’t do the same, but he’d wanted to believe the same about the others, too, and where had that left him?

Dom watched him for another moment, then gestured for Brian to sit down one more.

Brian warily settled back into a sitting position with his legs crossed in front of him, distinctly further away from Dom than he had been previously. Empty blue eyes met unmoved brown. For moments, they stared at each other, neither saying anything, with the revolver sitting untouched in between them. Then, Dom picked it up with one big hand -  Brian visibly tensed - and closed his other hand around the wrist of Brian’s right arm. He pulled it towards himself, forcing Brian to move with it. Not that he needed any force - Brian would’ve gone without a struggle.

Dom placed the revolver in the hand connected to the wrist he was holding, and he gently closed Brian’s fingers over it so that they were wrapped around the handle of the gun. He moved his rough fingers back to Brian’s thin wrist, and he moved his other hand up to join it. Using them, he pulled the hand clutching the gun towards himself. He kept pulling until the cool barrel of the revolver was pressed up against his own forehead.

“Shoot me.” 

Brian shook his head, and tried pulling his hand back, tried to let go of the gun. But Dom was relentless. He tightened his previously gentle grip on Brian’s wrist, and held fast. Brian stopped struggling, suddenly afraid.

“Dom, this isn’t funny.”

No response.

“I’m sorry, you _know_ I am - is that what you want to hear?”

No response

Just those deep brown eyes looking back emotionlessly into his.

Brian’s mask cracked.

“Dom _, stop_ ,” he said quietly, trying once more to pull his hand back, but Dom wouldn’t let him.

“Dom, _please,_ ” he whispered.

The other man’s eyes narrowed. One of his hands left Brian’s wrist and he wrapped his warm fingers around the blonde’s throat. His heavy grip wasn’t suffocating, but it was tight enough to bruise. The whole time, his eyes never left Brian’s, and Brian’s never left his. The former cop was too afraid to look away.

“ _Shoot me._ ”

It was more insistent now, with more of an edge to it. Brian could almost see his patience slipping. Like sand slipping through an hourglass: Slowly but surely emptying itself as it counted the seconds. Even with the hand around his throat, and the bruising grip on his wrist, Brian shook his head resolutely once more.

Dom snapped.

“I said _SHOOT ME, GODDAMMIT!!_ ”

The sudden, loud yell, paired with the tightening of the hand on his throat, sufficiently cutting off his air supply, did the trick. Years of too many enemies and too much fear.

Brian reacted reflexively out of shock and fear, tightening his hand around the gun, and pressing his finger to the trigger.

_Click_

Empty.

Dom let go of Brian’s throat and his wrist at once, pulling back as he did so. Brian breathed hard. His eyes were wide, and he stared unseeingly at the wall behind Dom’s head. The gun fell from his shaking fingers onto the bedspread. Even though the grip around his throat was gone, Brian felt as if he couldn’t breathe. A high pitched ringing echoed in his ears. He pulled his trembling hand back, and fisted it around his other hand, which was also shaking. 

He could have shot Dom.

He could have killed him.

_What if the bullet had been in that slot?_

_What if it had burst out of the gun and gone straight through Dom’s head?_

Finally, he focused his gaze back on Dom, who was still looking at him with that same calm look, still unruffled.

“You made your way into my family, and you tore it apart,” he stated as casually as if he was stating something as simple as the weather. Brian dropped his head as the other man continued to talk.

“We let you into our homes - our lives - and treated you like one of our own - like family.”

Dom picked up the discarded revolver, held it confidently, and aimed at Brian’s head. Brian looked up, through long eyelashes, into Dom’s face, trying in vain to get a read off of him. He couldn’t. The other man seemed to be keeping things even closer to his chest than he had before.

“We worked with you, welcomed you, _loved_ you,” he wrapped his finger around the trigger deliberately, and gave it a squeeze. Brian closed his eyes, waiting for the impact of the bullet through his brain.

_Click_

Empty

Dom put the gun down

“But it didn’t matter, did it? It was all just a job to you. It was all just a lie.”

Here, Brian finally looked up again.

“Bullshit.”

Dom’s expression changed minutely, and Brian felt a brief pang of satisfaction. The facade had finally cracked. Even if it was small, it was a start.

“Sorry?”

“ _Bullshit_.”

Dom raised a challenging eyebrow.

“Yeah, I came into your family and I fucked things up, I get it. But _none of it,_ was ever a lie.”

Dom opened his mouth, anger spiking through his expression.

“I loved Mia, maybe not the way I said I did, but I loved her like a sister.”

Dom paused, calculating him. Sizing him up.

Brian fought the moisture pooling in his eyes. He’d be _damned_ if he let Dom see him cry.

“Even though Vince was a complete ass, I still jumped on that truck - I still got him off of it. He had my respect.” 

Dom’s fist tightened, and Brian paused, looking down at it, wary. He expected it to come flying into his jaw anytime. To his surprise, it loosened, then settled into an open palm once more. Brian chanced a glance up at Dom’s face, and found him looking straight back at him.

Brian diverted his blue eyes instantly and cleared his throat. The loud, abrupt sound cut through the heavy blanket of silence that had fallen upon them. He swallowed harshly against the lump that was forming in his throat.

_Dammit, Dammit, Dammit…_

He let out a shaky breath that sounded as sharp as knives in the silence, and, still not looking at Dom, continued.

“Leon had my back when I needed him.”

Another painful swallow.

“Letty accepted me even when half your family didn’t.”

Brian felt the press of cool metal against his right palm, and knew that the gun was being pressed into his hand again. Closing his eyes again - and narrowly avoiding spilling the tears building up - he closed his fingers around it and held it up to where he knew Dom’s face was. He rested his finger on the trigger but didn’t pull it.

“Jesse… he was like a little brother.”

His voice broke on the last word, and he hastily pulled the trigger to cover it up, tensing every muscle in his body as he did so, afraid.

_Click_

Empty

He dropped the gun as if it had burnt him as soon as the sound came out, and pulled his hand back, only to have a warm, calloused palm grab him around the wrist. He could feel the tremors running through his body, and knew Dom could probably feel them, too - Hell, he could probably _see_ them from how hard he was shaking.

He tried to yank it out of the soft grip, but it held fast once more.

“Let go.”

“No.”

“Let _go._ ”

“ _No_.”

Brian opened his eyes and glared at Dom with as much hate as he could muster, knowing internally that it probably wasn’t as intimidating as he wanted it to be, seeing as he didn’t really hate Dom, _couldn’t_ really hate Dom. 

Dom didn’t even blink.

_So much for intimidation._

He gave his arm another harsh yank, but let out a pained yelp when Dom tightened his grip again, putting pressure on bruises that were already forming.

Dom instantly loosened his grip, and a crack of concern shot through his features. He moved his grip to Brian’s elbow instead, and pulled it closer to him to examine his wrist with the surprisingly soothing fingers of his other hand.

His wrist, as Brian had predicted, was already bruising: Turning into shades of an angry dark red that were slowly merging into purple. Dom’s brow furrowed, and he frowned, running his fingertips over the parts that were the darkest, looking troubled. The grip on his elbow slackened even more, and Brian took the chance to quickly pull his arm out of Dom’s grip, and back into the safety of his own lap.

Dom swiftly reached out for it again, leaning over the bed slightly to do so, and Brian, not expecting it, flinched back as the hand came towards him, expecting it to hurt him; Years of too many punches and too much pain having ingrained the fear into his head.

Dom froze momentarily where he was, and something flashed across his face, too quick for Brian’s eyes to place it, then he suddenly pulled back, leaving Brian untouched.

Brian tilted his head slightly in confusion.

Dom, not meeting his eyes, picked up the gun, pointed it at the blonde’s head, and pulled the trigger. The blonde cringed as he awaited his fate.

_Click_

Empty

Brian let out a long sigh as Dom dropped the gun again, averting back to looking down at the bedcovers again, avoiding Dom’s eyes.

“Look at me.”

Hesitantly, he obeyed. Dom’s stony facial expression was gone. His expression was softer, more open, and Brian found that it was much easier to look him in the eyes this way. Not that the former cop was comfortable with the situation, but he was at least more at ease.

“Even if you cared about us, you still screwed us over. I barely avoided jail. Mia was left alone. Vince was interrogated in his hospital bed, and Jesse’s dead.”

Dom paused to pick up the gun and push it into Brian’s unresisting, limp hand.

“It’s all your fault.”

Brian’s fingers closed around the gun, but he made no move to actually hold it up. He turned glassy blue eyes up to Dom. He felt wrecked. He hoped he didn’t look the same way. He felt like his insides were squirming like live worms inside him. He felt like the guilt was eating away at him, devouring him. He felt like his fear was controlling him, coercing him.

“Why are you _doing_ this?” the whispered question was so soft Dom almost missed it. The bald man couldn’t, however, miss the tears that began to run down the sides of the blonde’s face, tracing over sharp angles.

Dom didn’t answer, but simply gestured to the gun in Brian’s hands. Brian clenched his eyes shut, sending more tears down his face, raised the gun, and pulled the trigger, holding his breath.

_Click_

Empty

Brian breathed an audible sigh of relief and dropped the gun again, watching Dom with his broken, untrusting eyes. The other man looked back at him. Two shots left. One of them had the bullet. Brian then Dom. One bullet, two shots.

Dom picked up the gun again, held it level with Brian’s head, but rested his finger on the trigger without applying any pressure.

“And what about me?” he gravelled out.

“What do you mean?” Brian questioned quietly even though he knew what Dom was asking.

“What was I to you?” Dom paused, waiting for an answer, but Brian remained silent. He couldn’t answer that. Not unless he wanted his head beaten in.

Dom wordlessly lifted the gun and pulled the trigger, eyes calculating. Brian closed his eyes, but he wasn’t as afraid as he had been earlier. At this point, he would take death over Dom.

_Click_

Empty

Dom put the gun down again, and when Brian opened his eyes, Dom was looking right at him. Any traces of anger on his face had faded. He picked the gun back up and reached for Brian’s bruised wrist again. Brian didn’t have the energy to flinch away. He let out a small sob as Dom grabbed him gently and pulled, making him shift closer to him. Barely a foot of space separated them now. Without letting go of the wrist, Dom used his other hand to push the gun into Brian’s captured hand and wrap Brian’s unresponsive fingers around it. He then pulled Brian’s arm until the gun’s barrel was pressed into the middle of his forehead. He gently wrapped both of his calloused hands around the hand that held the gun. Brian’s hand.

Brian watched him, not bothering to stem the flow of tears nor hide his expressions behind his mask.

“Last shot… Death is mine,” Dom said quietly, staring into Brian’s bloodshot eyes. 

The blonde let out a choked sob.

“ _Dom...”_

But Dom’s eyes were unwavering.

“ _Shoot me,”_ he whispered, his voice brokering no argument.

Brian trembled and shook his head.

“ _Dom, please.”_

Dom watched him with soft eyes, but his hands simply tightened.

“You really want to know what you are to me?” Brian didn’t know why he had brought it up again, but as he saw Dom’s brow furrow, and his hands loosen, he was glad he had.

He took in a small breath, then let go.

“You’re _everything_ to me,” he whispered, his voice breaking.

“I gave up my job for you, I gave up _my life_ for you. I killed a man, I gave you my car, I ran myself… all for you. And if I got the chance to go back and do it all over again, I would still do the same thing again in a heartbeat.”

Dom’s eyes were unreadable, so Brian plowed on, wanting to tell him while he could.

“Want to know why?”

Dom nodded silently.

“I did it because I care about you, because I want you to be safe.”

Brian let out a wet, twisted, humorless laugh that even Dom cringed at the sound of.

“Everyone thought it was the sister that I went rogue for.”

Dom’s hands loosened even further.

“It wasn’t the sister. It was _never_ the sister.”

Brian suddenly tore his hand with the gun in it out of Dom’s grip, and he pulled the gun back and pressed it up against the side of his own head. Dom’s eyes widened.

“It was for you. It was all for _you_ ,” he whispered, barely audible, but audible enough, and with that, he pulled the trigger without blinking, embracing the bullet that would come flying into his head, ending his life.

_Click_

**_Empty_ **

Brian’s brow crinkled in confusion, and he blinked disbelievingly.

Dom suddenly raised one of his hands. It was clenched in a fist, as if he were holding something inside of it. He opened his fingers, and a single bullet dropped out onto the bedspread. The bullet that was supposed to be in the gun. _It had never been in it in the first place._

Brian stared unseeingly into Dom’s eyes. The big man leaned forward, pulling the gun away from the blonde’s head and prying it out of his fingers. He threw it to the other side of the room without looking, then curled the now empty hand around Brian’s cheek, cupping it gently. Intimately. Like he was something special.

“Do you _really_ think I would _ever_ hurt you? he asked quietly, his voice soft, but powerful.

Brian finally snapped out of his stupor.

“I hate you,” he whispered, tears falling.

“I know.”

“ _I hate you_.”  
Dom gently pulled Brian closer by the hand on his cheek and pressed their foreheads together.

“ _I know_.”

And with that, he kissed him. Brian closed his eyes and melted into it without a fight, and the slow trickle of tears turned into a slower one.

The kiss was both soft and dominating. Dom plundered his mouth like a dying man, but the hands pulling the blonde into his lap were gentle. He nipped at Brian’s bottom lip and the former cop let out a shattered gasp in return, tangling his previously limp arms into Dom’s white shirt, pulling him even closer with the grip he had on it.

Dom chuckled into his mouth, squeezing where he had his arms wrapped around Brian’s slender waist in a possessive gesture. Brian just moved his hands up to Dom’s face, cupping it in them and turning the other man’s face slightly to get a better angle. Dom took full advantage of the altered angle as well, and ran one hand up the length of his back to rest it at the back of Brian’s head, gently pulling at the curly hair softly, not intending to hurt. He kissed Brian twice as hard, demanding for everything Brian had to offer, and the blonde willingly gave.

Brian gave until he was breathless, and he pulled back to gulp for air. Dom, undeterred, simply moved his lips down the man’s jaw and latched onto his neck instead, nipping and biting. Brian tipped his head back and let out a breathless sound when Dom sucked on his pulsepoint. He whined when Dom switched out lips for teeth and continued exploring. Brian knew he would be left with marks in the morning, but he didn’t care. Jesus, the man had barely even kissed him and he was already a mess. Dom --the bastard-- clearly knew this as well, for he chuckled against Brian’s throat then nipped him softly again before backing off completely.

Their eyes met, and the corners of Brian’s crinkled as he smiled softly at the other man. Dom smiled right back at him, then removed one hand from Brian’s waist to gently wipe at Brian’s cheeks with his thumb, which he hadn’t realized were still wet with tears. 

“I don’t like seeing you upset,” he gravelled out into the air between them.

Brian just playfully rolled his eyes and smiled wider, lips parting to reveal pearly white teeth. Dom caressed his cheek again, still smiling.

“That’s better,” he whispered, tightening his arms so that he could kiss Brian again, gently this time.

Brian kept his eyes closed when they parted this time, sighing contentedly when Dom threaded a hand through his blond curls and tilted his head back again by pulling on the curls gently.

Brian felt lips against his Adam’s apple again, and he gasped at the hint of teeth teasing the skin, but Dom suddenly pulled back. Confused, Brian opened his eyes and tilted his head back down so he could meet Dom’s gaze and ask what was wrong, but Dom tipped his head back again. Feeling fingers on his neck, Brian suddenly realized what had gotten Dom to stop.

Brian tilted his head back down, blocking the bruises that had drawn Dom’s attention. The bruises that Dom himself had put there with the hand that had tightened on Brian’s throat, cutting of his air. The other tried to keep Brian from tilting his head down, but Brian simply batted the hands away, resisting the hand still tangled in his curls, as well.

Dom’s mouth was set in a frown and his eyes wouldn’t meet the blonde’s when Brian tried to make him look up.

“Hey,” Brian said, his voice quiet.

Dom looked up at him again with that same upset look in his eyes, and that just wouldn’t do.

Brian gently cupped the other man’s face and tipped it upwards so that he could gently press his lips to Dom’s. Nothing deep, nothing dirty, just a soft press of the lips. It didn’t need to be anything more. It said more than any other gesture would say. When Brian pulled away, Dom’s eyes were still troubled, still upset. Brian gently ran his thumbs over Dom’s cheekbones, smiling softly when Dom’s eyes fluttered shut at the caress.

“I bruise easy, it’s nothing big. It’ll be gone by the day after tomorrow.”

This was clearly the wrong thing to say, for it made Dom look even more troubled. He suddenly pulled away from Brian’s gentle hands cupping his face and grasped the blonde’s right arm and ran his thumb over the dark, painful looking bruises on his wrist.

“I hurt you,” Dom’s voice was soft, more tentative than Brian had ever heard it, and it made his heart twist in a way it hadn’t ever done before. Dom sounded ashamed. Ashamed that he’d done something so simple cause a bruise when the former cop had literally torn the other man’s life to shreds in a matter of weeks.

Brian cupped Dom’s face again and tilted it up towards him again, smiling reassuringly when Dom’s troubled eyes met his.

“It’s fine. It’s just a bruise. It’ll heal, Dom,” the blonde laughed humorlessly and continued quietly. “God knows I deserve it, anyways.”

Dom suddenly growled, his expression turning from somber to fierce in a second. His hand left Brian’s wrist in order to grasp his chin firmly, angling it so that he was forced to look Dom head on. The arm around his waist tightened as well.

The look on Dom’s face surprised Brian in its intensity.

“I don’t care what you’ve done,” Dom’s voice had taken on a low tone that sent shivers down Brian’s back. “Nothing, and I mean _nothing_ , gives me the right to hurt you. Gives _anyone_ the right to hurt you.”

Brian stared back, feeling open and exposed.

“But--,” he started, confused.

“But nothing, Buster,” Dom cut him off harshly, making him snap his mouth shut.

Seeing Brian’s still perplexed face, Dom sighed, his expression softening, and he gently released Brian’s chin and ran the back of his hand across Brian’s cheek, smiling when Brian leaned into the touch instinctively.

He gently pulled Brian in for another soft kiss that had more feeling behind it than heat. Even so, Brian melted into it, letting his hands fall to Dom’s shoulders as the other man kissed him.

When Dom pulled back, Brian was just as breathless as he’d been from the first kiss, and he knew that his cheeks were probably flushed pink and that he had a stupid smile on his face, but he couldn’t help it, not when Dom was looking at him like that. Looking at him like he was _worth_ something.

“God, you’re _gorgeous_ like this,” Dom breathed softly. Surprised, Brian ducked his head in an attempt to hide his flaming face.

Dom laughed loudly.

“I think you need to get your eyes checked,” Brian said softly, still hiding his face from Dom’s line of sight.

“Nah, I think I’m seeing just fine,” was Dom’s response. “You’re fucking beautiful, Bri. Thought so from the moment I first saw you.”

“It wasn’t the sister. It was you, Dom, always you.” Brian repeated, looking up at Dom through his eyelashes, managing somehow to look both shy and intense at the same time.

Dom turned a calculating look onto him, and Brian elaborated, “Sure, I loved Mia, I loved all of them, even _Vince_ for fuck’s sake… but it was you that made me turn, that made me think, that made me change.”

Brian leaned down so that their foreheads were touching, and he closed his eyes and sighed softly as he felt Dom’s arm around his waist tighten again, applying enough pressure to make him feel protected but not enough to make him feel trapped. Brian loved it. Loved _him._

Dom couldn’t believe how the man above him could possibly see enough in him to think that he was worth protecting, that he was worth giving up his career--his _life_ for. He’d never been one for words, so he tilted his head to press another soft kiss against Brian’s soft lips, feeling nothing but affection when he could feel said lips curving into a smile against his own.

The older man pulled back long enough to cup Brian’s cheek and meet his gaze with an intensity that made the blonde squirm in his lap.

“And it was you that changed me. That made me realize that I was missing something in my life. That I’d been chasing after the wrong things. That I’d been hurting the people that I loved.” he caressed Brian’s cheek again, smiling when his face broke out into a sweet smile that made his blue eyes shine and crinkle in the corners.

The man in his lap had done so much for him, and Dom had been too blinded by the overwhelming sense of betrayal to focus on the heavy gratitude and the sense of loss that he had felt immediately after leaving LA. He knew that Brian had hurt his family, that he had torn them apart, forcing them to run to different parts of the world, but in the end, they had all been allowed back into LA when no evidence was found linking them to the truck hijackings, which he knew was in part thanks to the blonde in his lap.

The truck driver hadn’t come forward, the cars hadn’t had any prints on them (courtesy of Brian), and the Trans were now six feet under and unable to say or do anything that would hurt them (also somewhat thanks to Brian). The blonde had done everything in his power to protect the family that Dom should have been protecting himself, and the former cop had also had to run when the heat came down on him for screwing up such a large scale undercover operation.

Brian had given up everything for them, and even after all of that, the blonde thought that it would be justified if Dom and his family hated him?

Dom’s arms tightened fractionally without even his noticing at the thought of the blonde having to run, having to live looking over his shoulder every other minute, having to sleep with one eye open, having to deal with feeling unsafe and unprotected on his own without anyone to offer him help or support.

_Never again_

Brian had them now: He had Dom and the family, _his_ family, the family he had given so much to protect. They would make him see that he had nothing to be sorry for, that he had been forgiven the moment it had become clear that all he had done was help them.

 _After_ _all_ , Dom thought as he pulled the blonde that was smiling that gorgeous, heart-stopping smile that made Dom forget his train of thought into a tight embrace and pressed a kiss to his temple,

_Brian was family, and you never turn your back on family._

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed! This is an unbeta-ed work, so if there are any errors to be found, just post a quick comment letting me know about them!


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